every dog, turtle, veg has it's day

Apparently today is world turtle day. It's always someone or somethings day. Last week it may or may not have escaped your notice was....wait for it National Watercress Week. and not only that but it clashed with National Vegetarian Week. Not that i've anything against watercress - some of my favourite recipies feature watercress and it punches above it's weight for a Green but it's just...What doesn't have a national week now? Go to google and i dare you to search any food item with the term "National week or day" and there'll be very few from courgette to zucchini that don't get celebrated at some time during the year.

I suppose it's all just about marketing, branding, promotion and profile and when is National Sour Grapes Day?

ministry of food

A plug for Dermot Seberry, a lecturer in culinary arts and gastronomy @dit. All the proceeds from his recent cookery book 'Learn to dine out at home' went to mission teams digging water wells in Nigerian villages in Benue State with names like Mbadaku, Cseagure and Ikpayongo. The book has now been revised and reissued (selling like hot cakes) and all proceeds of this ed. will aid 'Lifeline Recovery - The Ministry of Food' This is part of a community based training programme which Dermot is involved in which equips recovering & broken men get back on their feet with the life skill of 'how to cook' as they return to their homes. More details on buying the book and the projects at Dermot's website.

Life, beer, philosophy, food, space, architecture and everything.

i was thinking again about that elvis quote from the last posting - "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" and just remembering (guiltily) that we do have a book in the library called Eating architecture which explores the relationship between the 2, food and architecture, which explores what can be learned by examining the often metaphysical intersection of the preparation of meals and the production of space: how architecture engages issues of identity, ideology, conviviality, memory and loss, that cookery evokes. Who said we don't do deep at DIT.

OK maybe better to stick with Beer & Philosophy edited by Steven Halesby a recent arrival in the library. I'm sure most of us have been victims of beer fuelled philosophy in our days maybe even responsible for some, but this goes a bit beyond pub politics. How about chapter titles like 'Beer and Gnosis.' 'Beer goggles and transcendental idealism.' 'Beer, intoxication and power in Nietzsche's thought.' 'The metaphysics and epistemology of beer.' Perhaps I'll just start with Ch. 5 'Why is American beer so lousy?'